Follower Giveaway Winnder announced!!

And the winner is...
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Look for an email within 24 hours, Tonya!  Congratulations and enjoy spending that $15!!  I think I will be spending way more than that on TPT this week...hoping to get a school PO for it...we shall see though.

Hope everyone is having a great week!  I think the boys and I will go work in my classroom later today, it is a rainy dreary day her today.  I am thankful for all the rain we are getting lately, but I would really like to be enjoying the last weeks of summer!!!!!

MMI: 7/29/13

a Rafflecopter giveaway
DON'T forget my follower giveaway...it ends today...I made it a $15 TPT gift certificate!

As I previously stated, I have had the end of summer blues.  SO imagine my surprise when I had a super productive weekend!

Saturday I made binders for 5-8 Common Core ELA standards.  I love them!!!  Each strand has its own section with all the standards printed together.  Then there is a sheet with each standard printed on it with boxes to write lesson plans for teaching that standard and resources used for each standard.  I will then slip the resources in behind each of those pages.  I showed it to my curriculum director and she LOVED it.  We are in the process of writing new curriculum and she thinks this will be extremely useful!  I have made each one available in my TPT store if you want to check them out.
         


I also made a set of Subway Art with quotes I have been pinning on pinterest.  These are a FREEBIE in my store.  I laminated them and put them above my white board in my classroom tonight.

I am going to make 3 more for the empty space :)

I also did the "In our classroom we do..." project that has been floating around pinterest.  Mine is simple and matches my color scheme.

I hope you found something useful and I will be doing some more "crafty" things next week.  I am just in the countdown days where I have to get things together! :)  2 weeks from today is my report day!!  AHHHH!!!  So many lesson plans to get prepared, I haven't really thought much about social studies yet....

Go on over to Fourth Grade Frolics and check out all the other Monday Made Its!  I have a doctor appointment this morning, but plan on checking them out this afternoon. :)

End of Summer Blues....

I think I have the end of summer blues...haven't felt like doing much of anything this past week...I don't think the rain helped.  I am thankful for the rain and mild temps, but I really want it to be HOT and sunny so I can spend my last days on the river!!!

Last night I decided to get out of my funk and I did make a resource for my room.  We will be writing all new curriculum this year for common core. SOOOOO....I made a resource for my 5th grade standards.  I will be doing the same for 6, 7, and 8 as well.  In this packet I have all the ELA standards.  They are separated by categories.  There is a cover page for each category that has all the standards under that category listed.  Then each standard has its own page where you can list lesson plans and resources used to teach that standard.  I plan to slip hard copies of each resource behind those sheets.

I am excited to use these and hope I keep up with it! :)  I found free checklists that I am going to put in my binders too.  I believe I found them all on TPT as well.  They have spaces to write the dates that you teach each standard. 

So, if you are interested you can check out my new product.  I didn't mean for this to be a shameless plug for it, but I am excited to use it and hope it can be helpful to a lot of my followers.  Stay tuned for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade...maybe I can finish them before Monday Made It?!



Don't for get to enter my follower giveaway for a TPT $15 gift certificate!!! :)

FOLLOWER GIVEAWAY UPDATE....

Okay, so for all my followers...I planned to draw for the giveaway of the $10 TPT gift certificate today...ummm...yeah...didn't work out the way I wanted.  So I have made a rafflecopter giveaway for it.  It is for a week. You must be a follower to win!  So FOLLOW my blog and enter to win!  Sorry for the wait, but I am going to five the winner a $15 gift certificate instead for the wait!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

GOOD LUCK :)

MMI: 7/22/13

HOLY COW!!  I only have 2 more Mondays until I report to work!   How did that happen!?!?!

Once again it is time for Monday Made It with Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics.  I enjoy linking up each week. 


I have to admit that I wasn't real crafy this week.  I printed some things at school and forgot to bring them home...I also took most of last week off from doing anything with school and just enjoyed my kiddos.  We went floating one day and went fishing one day.  It was nice amid all of my stepson's dr appointments.  He spends most of the summer at him mom's, but he comes back for a "vacation" here for a couple of weeks...sports physical, orthodontist, and two other dr appts...some vacation for him, right!? lol

We went floating with Me, my mom, my sister-in-law, my cousin, my  3 boys and my nephew.  Much fun...

 Here are a few from catfishing!  The boys always have so much fun.  It was Kaleb's first time since he has been gone all summer.  Everyone caught fish, so everyone was happy! :)

Anywho...I did manage to get a couple of things made.  I made two calendar sets, one for me and one for my BFF teaching buddy.  I went ahead and put them in my TPT store.  Click on the thumbnails to check them out.
                      


I sold my first couple sets of I can statements on TPT as well.  WOOHOO, my first sales! :)  I have 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th grade ELA available.  8th grade is free!!!!



Anyway, that is pretty much all I got accomplished this week.  We are going to work in my room tonight so I will have craftiness to share next week! :)  I will be announcing my giveaway winner tomorrow!! :) 

MUST READS

I just finished reading two AMAZING books.  I cannot wait to share them with my classes this year.  The first book I read was A Long Walk to Water.


This book is a dual narrative based on a true story.  Nya goes to the pond to fetch water for her family.  She walked 8 hours every day.  Salva walks away from his war-torn village.  He is a "lost boy" refugee.  They are both in the country of Sudan.  I absolutely LOVED this story.  It was very empowering and will open your students' eyes to the outside world, to how wonderful our country truly is!  I will say, I shed a few tears reading this book.  I believe I will read it aloud with my 7th and 8th graders.  I believe we will have a ton of GREAT discussions.

The second book I read this week was, Wonder by R.J. Palacio.


Oh.my.goodness!  What a powerful book to read.  I plan to read this book with my 5th and 6th graders.  Again, I see a lot of wonderful discussions coming from this book.  It will also be a great book to talk about point of view with.  August Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to mainstream school--until now.  He is entering 5th grade.  We all know that it is hard enough to enter a new school, let alone enter with a very different appearance.  I have to say, I cried a lot with this book.  It is just so uplifting/moving.  It is also funny.  I highly recommend the book.

What have you read this summer?  I am looking for some more books that will tie into my socials studies units.  If you have any suggestions that would be wonderful!! :)

New Room Painting

Okay, I think I mentioned before that painting with my husband is like playing one-on-one with Michael Jordan.  And you know what?  That is okay by me because the final outcome is amazing.
My husband was SO annoyed by previous paint jobs, there was paint all over outlet cover, trim, counters...etc...terrible.  He painted ALL the base trim and top trim.  That took MANY hours with his expensive little paintbrush that he said he shouldn't be using black on.  AWESOME HE IS.  Yeah, I owe him big time...and he won't let me forget...

HERE ARE THE BEFORE PICS

 

HERE ARE THE AFTER

My "window wall" with my new curtains

 

The chevron wall in progress...we gridded off the wall with chalk lines then my fabulous hubby taped it off.  He had to use an exacto knife at the pointed parts....

 

The heater door that hubby painted the trim and door (he free handed all the trim with no tape because he is AWESOME!)  He also did all the base trim as well, I didn't take a picture of that...

My room is such a horrible mess!  I will be cleaning it next week...Can you tell the wall with windows is darker gray than the other walls??

You can see some of his trim work here :)

Also covered my bulletin board with leftover fabric :)  and the beginnings of my objective wall.

 

I LOVE how my room is coming together and CANNOT wait to do a total classroom reveal! :)  I am so grateful for my husband taking all this time to paint my room for me.  He really did an amazing job and with very little complaining ;)  I think the only time he was annoyed by me was the night my teaching BFF was working on her room too and I kind of disappeared for a long time....it happens when we get together...we like to talk! lol  I think she was down at my room every 10 min to talk some more.  haha...Justin finally said, "Do you guys get any work done when you are here!?" lol  He doesn't believe what a great team we make, we can get a lot done together because we can talk as we work ;). 

 

 

Followers!!! Giveaway!!

Okay, so you all are amazing!!  I definitely hit the 20 followers...actually I hit 30+ follower!!  As promised I will be giving away a $10 TPT gift card to one of you!  My step son was really sick last night and we had a long night at the ER.  The doctors were thinking it was his appendix so he had a TON of tests, but turns out it was not the appendix, thank goodness!!  The doctors decided it was food poisoning and they are leaning toward salmonella.  I kind of worry the same because he has been messing around with his ghecko and a new one my nephew gave us.  I tell him OVER AND OVER AND OVER to WASH YOUR HANDS WITH SOAP AND WATER after touching them every time!  He is 13, let's face it, he thinks he knows it all.  ANYWAY...my point it that the giveaway winnner will be announced and contacted this weekend, I just need to do a bit of catch up and take care of my kiddo!

I do want to quickly link up with  Teaching Blog Roundup: Dog Days of Summer Giveaway.
Different bloggers are linking up with a lot of giveaways and there is a prize you can win as well.
So, head over and check it out!


Also, check out my giveaway, my 8th grade ELA Common Core I can statements.  They are the perfect addition to your class decor and functional as well!  I also have the ELA I can statements for 5th, 6th, and 7th grade available and will be offering them at 10% off until Sunday.

Monday Made It 7/15/2013

Well, I have made it to my second Monday Made It!  Exciting!! :)  I have 5 followers, doesn't sound like a lot, but makes me super happy to have 5 after the first week! :)  I would love to get some more!  So, follow me on blog lovin' and leave a comment saying that you follow me and the name you follow me under.  When I reach 20 followers I will have a giveaway, a $10 TPT gift certificate!  :)

Now on to MMI.  As I have stated before I LOVE Tara's blog, Fourth Grade Frolics.  I have stalked her blog for over a year now.  She is one of my inspirations for starting my own.  Hop over to Tara's blog to check out all the other MMIs, it amazes me every week how many there are!  Link your own MMI up too!  It is super fun AND SUPER EASY!


My first MMI this week is my "Objective Wall".  I quickly threw this together while the hubs was finishing up the last wall of my room Thurday night.  Seriously, I have to give props and thanks to my hubs for all his unpaid, hard work he has put into my room.  I am going to buy another color of trimmer to go around this as well, either dark gray or the bright blue that is on my posters.  (I added my 8th grade heading after takig this pic)  I love it! 

I have all my ELA common core standards made into I CAN statements with cute frames ready to be cut, laminated and cut again.  I am going to try to get those finished this week, hope to!  The I can statements are available in my TPT (also new) store HERE.  The 8th grade I CAN statements are a freebie, so go grab that up if you teach 5th grade.  I still need to get my social studies standards completed, but I am taking a break. ;)  I want to get all the standards finished for all subjects and have them available, but I just don't know if I can find the time for that before school starts.

My second MMI is my curtains.  My mother-in-law and I whipped these out in a couple hours on Thursday.  I LOVE THEM!  I ordered the fabric from Hobby Lobby, 40% off, 4 cent shipping WOOT!!

 

As you can see have stuff EVERYWHERE...and my kids have a lot of stuff everywhere too.  We have been spending A LOT of time in my room and the kids have been with us too...

Curse the window unit ;)

And finally, the grand finale, MMI #3--my room is finally FINISHED BEING PAINTED!! :)  SO HAPPY and SO in LOVE!!

 

The hubs is going to paint my shelves and the two doors, but they won't be finished for a couple of weeks, are schedules are packed the next two weeks.  I LOVE my chevron SOOOOO much!!

I hope you enjoyed my MMIs this week and please follow me on Blog Lovin', there is a button on the side bar --------->  !!  My stepson has to get his sports physical today and we are going floating on the river!  I LOVE living 5 miles from the river, but I am sad to say this is the first time we are getting to the river this summer!!  Hope to change that the next two weeks!!  I can't wait to come back and check out everyone else's MMIs!

GETTING CLOSER!

We now have all the walls and trim painted in my classroom.  We have the accent/chevron wall left to do and the doors.  Hopefully it will all get finished tomorrow!  I really hope so...hubby has put about 14-16 hrs into the room painting, and I have been helping most of the time.  Last night while he was finishing cutting in I put up my objective area on my wall.  I like it for the most part, but am probably going to buy another trimmer to go around so it will be double trimmed.  I put lime green up and I would like to find a dark grey.  Here is my objective board on my TPT store.  For now it is free.
Click here to get a copy.

I am anticipating a lot of goodies for my Monday Made Its!  My mother-in-law and I made my curtains yesterday, I need to pick up some curtain rods and hang them tomorrow, the painting will HOPEFULLY be done, and my objective board is up on the wall. :)  So....stay tuned!

We are all anxious because my step-son is coming home Sunday.  He has been at his mother's in Illinois since school let out.  He is excited to be coming home too, he is 13.  We have a busy week full with sport's physical and orthodontist check up, and some FUN.  We are going floating Monday and hopefully at least one other day next week.  I also owe him a trip to see Fast and Furious 6, just the two of us.  Then we have to squeeze in school shopping and registering for JUNIOR HIGH!!!  OMG, I can't believe he is going to JUNIOR HIGH.  It seems like we were just celebrating his 1st birthday yesterday!

Anyway, I plan to be linked up Monday, but you know what, I might be late.  We have all missed him, even his two brothers have, which says a lot! :) ;)

Tried It Tuesday

I came across Fourth Grade Flipper's Tried it Tuesday linky and thought, "hmmm, what have I tried..."


I have been working the past couple of weeks at making my own "I can statements" for ELA 5-8.  Quite the task, but I finally finished them.  I decided to open my own TPT store and sell them.  The 8th grade set is free.   Check them out!

                     

Later we are going to do some more painting...we should have everything done except my chevron pattern tonight!! :)  I AM STOKED!!  CAN.NOT.WAIT!  I am ready to start setting up my classroom!! 

Check out the other Tried It Tuesdays!

Must Have Monday...a day late ;)

First, plese follow me on bloglovin'...I would love to get some followers and am thining about a giveaway....the button is on the side bar...

Ok, so here is another one of my favorite linkys...Must Have Monday by Teaching With a Touch of Twang.  I have been stalking Sabra's blog for about a year and have borrowed many ideas from her. :)

Sabra's must have this week was her new laminator...I LOVE my laminator!!  Could never go back to life before it. 

My must have this week is modge podge.  I have just jumped on the modge podge band wagon and made several projects with it.  Below are just a couple....

I made these cute clip boards with modge podge, scrapbook paper, and acrylic sealer....

And I put the labels on these plastic folders with modge podge...

 

I have read many horror stories about the podge on different blogs.  I must say I only had one wrinkle/air pocket on one of the folders and everything else was smooth sailing.  I think the key to mastering the art of podge is less is more.  It doesn't take a thick layer to get stuff to stick and stay.  Also make sure you wait until it has dried before putting the top layer.

 

I must say, I have never been a crafter and do not consider myself the least bit crafty.  I will also say that I reall enjoyed these two projects.  The boys were at summer school and I found it to be peaceful and enjoyable. :) (The projects and if I am honest, maybe the fact that the boys were at summer school ;) )

 

Anyway, go link up with Sabra

New Classroom Closet--Promise I will try not to post more than once a day after this ;)

As I mentioned before, I am moving into a new classroom, much bigger, sooooo happy!!!

With my new classroom came a new closet.  I was/am SO happy my closet is in my room.  In my last room, the closet was in the hall (not to mention, my room was TYY-NEE)...annoying to have to leave the room to get something out of the closet. 

This new closet is WONDERFUL...tons of shelves...inside the classroom...etc. etc.  HOWEVER, with this new closet came what seemed like 500 years of crap!  Seriously, the teacher that left the room, left a huge mess. 

 

Thank GOD for my dear friend/fellow teacher.  She came in one morning and we cleaned it all out.  I forget how many dumpster trips we made, but it was a TON!  We cleaned out another room that day as well, previous people at our school had hoarding problems or something!  We pretty much filled the big dumpster.  Uh-huh...LOTS of out-dated textbooks, crazzzzzy!  TONS of sample books...

 

So, after her help purging it all, and me spending 2 days organzing/moving in my stuff...this is what we have....

 

I am linking up with:

 

 

Of course the whole closet is organized, but one thing that really helps me is all of those tubs from the target dollar aisle...they aren't a dollar..but each one houses a different subject's workbook/resources.  This way they are easy peasy to locate.

 

Also, the black magazine holders separate my construction paper by colors.  Some of my fabulous students did that for me last year.  SO easy to get what you need with out digging.

 

I am in love with the space :)  SO happy it is organized.  It was A LOT of work, I mean A LOT, but totally worth the outcome.

 

Next post read about my experience painting the room....